Lyric of the Moon
by Mewlon
Summary: After her home was taken over by the Vampire Nation, Raine and her brother Genis are now slaves. However, a demon knight sets them free. He fancies Raine, but so does a vampire prince. Kratos x Raine x Zelos. Hints of Sheena x Lloyd. Ratings might go up.
1. Chapter 1

_Lovely isn't it? I've been a fan of Tales of Symphonia for a while and now I've finally have done a story about them. I hope you enjoy it. It's an AU, just so that you guys will know that. I don't own any of the characters for this game. They all belong to Namco. Depending on what I do with it, ratings might go up. Just to give you guys a heads up on that. _

_This story is a Kratos x Raine x Zelos love triangle. There is also some slight Lloyd x Sheena, Collette x Zelos, Presea x Genis. If you don't like it, you can go back. If you are interest please read on._

**Lyric of the Moon**

**Chapter One: Escape**

"Move it you, swine!" a man holding a whip shouted. He cracked the whip up in the air to show that he meant business. "If you don't move it, I'll make your life right now a miserable Hell!"

The young woman let out a flinch as she quickly caught up with the rest of the group. She walked along with a line of other people which apparent were elves. The elves were all in shackles wearing brown, tattered clothing. All elves of different ages continued to follow the line in which lead over to wagons. The captivators all dressed the same: red suits with intensive armor covering them.

The captivators pushed in the elves right into the wagons until they filled up. They didn't care how many could fit as long as they could drag them off towards their destinations. One young woman, in particular, had long, white hair that was held together in a ponytail. Her soft blue eyes sparkled a bit as she looked over at the wagons.

Behind the young woman was a young boy. He held onto her hands as they walked a bit closer to the wagons. Much like the older woman, the boy looked just liked her. He shivered a bit as he looked up at the captivators. He could see from the small light of the torches that lit that night sky, that they had sharp fangs.

"Raine," the young boy whimpered, "what are they?"

"Hey, you!" barked one of the men. "Keep it quiet!"

"Genis," Raine whispered softly, "you have to be quiet. As for what they are…I think they are vampires, or some sort of fanged creature that resides in the night. Either way, just don't attract any attention."

Soon Raine and Genis had reached their wagon. Both siblings entered the wagon as they were shoved in with other people. Once it was full, the vampires closed the door, locked the hatch with a lock, and told the stage coach to move. The stage coach whipped the horse. Soon the wagon began to move. Genis held onto Raine; afraid that he wouldn't be near her again.

"Raine," Genis said, "what happened?"

"I…I don't know," Raine replied, "but I think…our lives won't be the same again."

"Did…they really kill Mom and Dad?"

"…yes, they did. These monsters killed our mother and father. I'm not so sure why this happened…"

"Don't you know?" an old, elf man spat. "We are being invaded by the Vampire Nation."

"Vampire Nation?" Raine said as she looked in disbelief. "That can't be right. The Elvin Republic has a treaty of peace with the Vampire Nation. Neither nation are to attack the other."

"Apparently," an old, elf woman replied, "these bloodsuckers just broke their deal. I can't believe that it took them just one night to bring this kingdom down."

"What's going to happen to us now?" Genis asked softly.

"Isn't it obvious, boy? We are now slaves."

"Slaves?"

"Yes. Our Elfin race lost against the Vampire Nation, now we must suffer the consequences of war."

"Raine!" Genis said as he held Raine's hand.

"Don't worry," Raine replied, "we'll find a way to get through with this."

"Hey, you back there!" The driver shouted. "You better shut it before I decide to get down there and teach you lesson about holding your tongue."

The Elves had then quiet down. Raine looked out from the barred window and let out a soft sigh. _What on Sylvarant will happen to us? _She thought. Her soft blue eyes just kept glancing over at the forest of burnt down trees. Fires were slowing dying down. Raine looked down at the ground and saw a couple of mutilated bodies. She quickly looked away from the sight as she held onto Genis tightly.

The ride was quite a harsh one. They had traveled for three solid days with no food or water. Some of the elves had been fainting or dying from the lack or water, food, and oxygen. Suddenly, the wagon had stopped. Raine looked through the bars to see a totally different scenery than from the one back home. On one side of the wagon, she could only see a large wall surrounded by tall mountains. On the other side there was a pathway that lead to an iron gate. Her thoughts were interrupted when the door to her wagon opened.

"All right, get out, you filth!" one of the vampire guards shouted. "Move it, before I whip you silly!"

The Elves inside of the wagon did not hesitate to get out of the wagon. Once Raine and Genis were out from the wagon they quietly looked around them to see other Elves getting out from their wagons and forming a line. Genis looked back at their own wagon to see the bodies of a couple of Elves; lying there, dead. Genis let out an expression that was a mixture of sadness with disgust.

"Eww," one of the vampire guards let out, "a couple of them are all ready dead."

"The wagons aren't any good anymore if they have dead filth inside." his partner replied. "It could be contaminated and we don't want to catch Elf germs."

"Yeah, that's like catching the plague there. So, what do we do with them?"

"What do you mean?" The second guard hissed as he hit his partner's head. "We burn the wagons. We have to toast those bastards so that their plague won't reach our beloved nation."

"All right, then I suppose I'll go get the torches. Seymour and the others will handle these slaves for branding."

_Branding? _Raine thought as she looked over at the two guards. _What do they mean by branding?_ A slight shove caused Raine to almost fall to the ground. Genis held onto her, helping Raine regain her balance as they began to walk. Several vampire guards kept their eyes on the Elves; holding their whips ready. Raine walked to the iron gate and into the dark tunnel. The pungent smell of mildew filled in her nostrils. Raine scrunched up her nose as she tried to ignore the stench.

As she walked a bit further through the tunnel, a bright light appeared. She looked at her new surroundings. It was a lovely town square with Gothic statues of things like gargoyles and demons. In the middle of the town square was a fountain with carved, stone gargoyles. However, instead of water flowing from the fountains, blood came out. If one should go pass the fountain and follow the stone road, it would lead to the rather large guillotine. The blade of the guillotine was still stained with blood. Raine knew that someone had been executed earlier and she hoped that none of them were to soon.

Right beside the guillotine was a large platform that held five loops. One of the loops had a body that was hanging. Strange kids would walk up to the body and began to throw stones at the corpse. One of the demonic children looked over at the long line of Elves and beckoned the others to see. Each of them turned their attention to the Elves. Fanged smiles appeared on their lips as they quickly made their way to the line and began to fling rocks at them.

"Look at those pointy ear freaks!" One of the kids shouted as he threw a rock right at Raine's forehead.

"I heard from my dad that these freaks produce food," another of the kids shouted as he flung a rock at Genis.

"Eww, who'd want to eat those things? They don't look appetizing, like humans do. Or at least, they should be washed."

"Hey, you kids!" One of the guards shouted. "Get lost!"

"Make us!" One of the children taunted as they stuck their tongues and began to ran.

"Why you little bastards!" The guard shouted as he chased after them.

Raine sighed in relief. She felt something cool drip down her cheek. She moved her hands to touch a cool liquid. She frowned as she saw blood leak from her head. Genis wiped away the blood that fell from his cheek. He then took a hold of Raine's hand and walked beside her. The small Elf boy looked over at the villagers. None of them seemed happy to see either one of them. One of the woman gave off a snarl as she saw Genis. Genis quickly looked down at the paved ground, in hopes that no one will continue to stare at them.

The pace of the line slowly came to a halt. Raine looked over to the side to see a couple of guards taking a hold of an Elf. They moved his hair to a side and moved his ear. Another guard took a hold of a hot iron with a strange symbol on it and branded the ear. The Elf let out a yell of pain as the hit iron burned his soft skin. Raine began to shiver a bit as the thought of the hot iron touching her ear came into her mind.

"Move it!" One of the guards shouted as they pushed Raine. "If you dawdle, you'll get more than a brand on your ear. How would you like it if we brand your breast rather than your ears?"

Raine didn't look up at the guard. She just shook and shivered.

"That's what I thought. Move it, you bitch!"

Raine did as she was told and walked over to the stand where they branded the other Elves. The guards were rough with her as they pushed back her long, snowy white hair. They took a hold of her somewhat pointy ears. Raine closed her soft blue eyes as she waited for the hot iron to strike. Raine bit her lips as the hot iron made contact with her skin. She tried to hold back the tears that were tempting to fall from her eyes.

Once they removed the iron, they pushed Raine over to the line. Raine looked back as they took a hold of Genis. She wanted to stop them from hurting her young brother, but held herself back. She saw in pain as they branded her brother. The smaller Elf let out shriek as the pain was too much for him. Tears trickled down his cheek. Once they were finished, the guards pushed Genis back into the line.

Raine took a hold of Genis' hand and walked with the line. The group continued to walk as they were being led to a dark, old building. Raine's eyes moved from what was in front of her to the bottom part of the building. She saw a barred window with a hand sticking out. She continued to walk inside of the building. There, the guards began to separate the Elves into groups and stuffed them into jail cells.

Raine grasped Genis' hand tighter as they both walked over to who was putting the Elves into their cells. The one guard just snarled at them as he pushed both Sage siblings in one of the cells and locked the door. Genis looked at the interior of the cell. The smell of blood and other ungrateful, foul stenches perfumed its place. The walls were stained with dry blood. A steel plate was placed at the far corner of the cell. It was dirty and germ ridden with rotten food.

"Raine," Genis whisper softly, "what's going to happen?"

"I wish I knew what goes on from here," Raine replied as she caressed Genis' hair. "One thing is for certain, I'll take care of you, no matter what."

"Raine...I'm hungry and thirsty."

"I know...but I can't do anything. I wish I could."

Their conversation was cut short when a clink sound was heard. One of the vampire guards threw them a steel plate of what appeared to be food along with a steel cup that was filled with water. Raine took a hold of the plate and cup. She gave the food over to Genis so that he may eat first. Raine drank half of the cup while Genis ate half of the food. Once they were done with consuming half, they traded off what they had. Raine finished the food while Genis finished the water.

"It isn't much," the older sister said, "but it will do. At least we're not going to die...for now."

"I miss Mom and Dad..." Genis whimpered.

"Me too..."

Four days had passed since they were stuck in the prison. Every meal they had, it seemed like the vampires were giving them more and more. Raine and Genis weren't complaining as long as they had food. However, they didn't like the fact that they were fed some strange, gray mush that no one could identify. It had no taste, which was good since no taste is better than a bad taste to the Sage siblings.

Living in the prison cell was horrible. The sun was burning during those days, that it was like living in an oven for the prisoners. A couple more of prisoners had passed away due to lack of health. On the third evening, late at night, four guards walked over to Raine's neighboring cell. They opened the cell and took out all of its prisoners. The guards placed shackles on prisoners. Raine poked her head out from the bars and watched the vampire guards take away the prisoners.

Raine's eyes squinted as she tried to make out what was going on over to their destination. The young Elf woman, took out her steel plate and stretched out her hand. She tried to make out the figures but the worn out steel made it difficult for her to see clearly. She did see the silhouettes move two silhouettes to the hanging platform while one went to the guillotine. Raine looked away as she saw their executions.

"What happened, Raine?" Genis asked.

"I..." Raine said as she tried not to lose it, "...they killed three people right now."

"We have to think of a way to escape," Genis replied.

"How? We're practically surrounded by guards everywhere."

Genis got up from the cold ground and looked down the hallway. His soft eyes saw that only two guards were left behind to watch over the prisons. The young boy began to examine the bars with his hands. Rust was beginning to form from the steel bars, making it a bit easier to break through them. The Elfin boy began to search around the cell to find anything that could be use to open or break the bars. His eyes landed right on the dirty plate that had been cracked.

"All right," Genis said, "I think I know how we can get out. We're going to need that plate and a lot of patience."

"What are you planning to do?" Raine asked.

"We're going to cut one of those bars, about almost the entire way," Genis whispered, "then we're going to..."

Almost a week and a half had passed since Genis and Raine were brought into captivity. Early in the morning, Raine would begin to cut the rusty bar using the steel plate. Once she grew tired, Genis would take over for her and begins to cut. Their hands had bled from the cuts they had received by using part of the steel plate. Once some of the Elf prisoners were taken away and never returning, the two siblings began to quicken their pace.

Finally, that evening, the bar was really weak enough that anyone could just give it a light push and break it off. Next came the second part of Genis' plan. When dinner was passed over to them, Raine took a bit of food into her mouth. She waited a couple of seconds before she fell on her back and began squirm around on the ground. She kicked on the ground and failed around.

"Guard, guard!" Genis shouted as he stuck his head out from the bars. "My sister has been poisoned!"

Both guards rushed over to Raine's cell and opened it. The guards knelled on the ground and began to inspect Raine. While they were busy, Genis managed to get the rusty bar out from its position and hit one of the guards on the head. The other guard turned around, giving Raine a chance to pull off her maneuver. Raine managed to kick the guard on the stomach and quickly got up.

She took up Genis' bar and hit the guard on the head, knocking him out cold like his companion. The rest of the prisoners began to shout and cheer for the Sage siblings. A couple of prisoners begged from them to get them out. Genis and Raine tried to calm down the prisoners so that their ruckus wouldn't catch the ears of other guards.

"Listen," Raine said, "we'll get you guys out, but we'll need outside help. My brother and I will go look for help, so please hang in there."

"If you need something to get yourselves out of," Genis said as he gave the plate shard to the closest cell, "use this to make a run for it. Please share it."

"What's going on here?" A voice shouted from the outside.

"We have to go now, Genis!" Raine shouted as she grabbed Genis' wrist and ran.

Both siblings ran out from the only exited the prison had and ran off towards the opposite direction. A couple of guards managed to get a glimpse of them. They separated into two groups: one to go after Genis and Raine while the other tending to the prison. The guards that went inside of prison tended to their fallen comrades. All the while, the prisoners that had the steel plate shard, hid it safely on their body.

Elsewhere, Raine and Genis ran through a thick forest. The branches scratched their skins and ruined their clothing. One branch, in particular, scratched Genis' left eyelid. The young Elf let out a whelp as he tried to stop the bleeding that fell from his eyelid. Meanwhile, Raine's long hair got stuck on one of the branches. She shouted as she tried to pull herself away from the branches, but they seemed to be alive and not wanting to let her go.

With one last yank, Raine pulled a bit of her hair out. Her once long hair was nothing more than an uneven cut. She placed a hand on her head and felt the lack of hair. Her attention changed from her hair to the sky as she heard a loud thunder clash. Lighting was seen through the sky. Small, cool water drops fell down on both siblings. Both of them shivered from the feeling of water, but soon found it must relaxing.

"Hey!" a distant voice shouted.

Raine and Genis looked back into the deep part of the forest. They heard that the guards were coming from them. Raine pulled on Genis' wrist and began to go through the forest. Strange animals hissed and growled as both siblings walked through their territories. Raine saw a clearing and began to run faster towards it. Just as they had reached it, they realized that it was a cliff. Raine stopped as she and her brother reached the edge.

Raine looked down to see that it was quite a nasty fall. Down below were more trees. A bit further, beyond the trees, was a stone pathway which lead to more parts of the village. She looked around to see if there was any way for them to get down on the ground. She looked over to the right of the ledge to see a dirt pathway which led from the edge of the cliff to the ground.

"Quickly, Genis!" Raine shouted as both rushed over to the pathway.

Before they reached the pathway, a dark figure fell from the sky and blocked their path. Genis recoiled back and hid behind Raine. Raine held onto Genis, hoping to protect him from whatever it was that was in front of them. Rain poured from the sky heavily as the figure began to stand up from its kneeling position. The figure before them was a man with rather broad shoulders.

Flaming red hair stuck to his strong, smooth face due to the rain. Rain could make out his dark, blood red eyes. Though at first she could see a sense of cold, darken feeling, but slowly she could see what appeared to be sadness. His attire consisted of a dark purple, uniform. On the uniform were medals that hung on one of the pockets of the soft jacket. On his hands were black gloves and on his feet were black boots. A dark blue cape covered part of his body as well as the sword that was in its sheath that hung from his waist. On his left arm was a shield.

The red headed man kept his vision on Raine. He slowly looked at tiny Genis before he looked back at Raine. He took one step forward then another one. Raine slowly began to back away from the man. Fear rose up in her body as she could sense that this man was a force to be reckoned with. Genis began to whimper a bit as he looked at the red head man.

"Stop," said the man, "if you wish to live, you'll let me see your ears."

"Please...don't kill us!" Raine begged as she felt tears well up in her eyes. "I'll let you see my ears and take me away, but please, let my brother go. He's just a child and he needs..."

"Enough!" The man barked. "I just said that I wanted to see your ears."

Raine looked down at the muddy ground as she took one step forward. She release her hold on Genis as she approached the man. The man let out a small sigh as he placed a hand on the woman's face. His hand trailed from her cheek towards her ears. He moved part of her hair away to see her pointy ears. He examined the ears until he found the mark. _  
So this is one of the slaves, _he thought. Raine shivered a bit from the man's touch.

"You're a slave," the man said to her.

"Yes," Raine replied as she looked into the man's dark crimson eyes, "please, let my brother go. I'll go with you quietly and back to my prison, if you just let my brother go! I beg of you!"

A thunderbolt crashed just as Raine had finished speaking. For that split second, the man saw a better glimpse of the woman that was near his arms. Tears began to trail down Raine's face as she begged this soldier, or at least she thought it was a soldier, for mercy. The man looked deeply into her eyes. It was strange that her soft eyes reminded him so much of someone he knew. Before he lost himself entirely in the past, he shook his head a bit.

"Go now," he said flatly.

"You're really letting us go?" Raine asked. "Even thought you know we're slaves."

"You begged to be released, didn't you? I'm letting you go now before I change my mind."

"Thank you, Mr. Soldier!" Raine let out as she quickly got Genis and ran off towards the pathway. "I'll never forget this!"

The man kept his eyes locked on the young woman as she and her brother ran down the dirt pathway and into the forest. Something bothered the man entirely. He thought it was something to do with those sad eyes of hers that reminded him of someone that was dear to him. Rain continued to pour down on the man. He slowly looked up at the sky. _It is quite a dark sky, _he thought. _Are you crying right now?_

"General Kratos!" One of the vampire guards called out.

Kratos looked at the soldiers. "What is it?"

"I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but we have most urgent news. Two Elfin slaves had escaped from our prison. We gave off chase and we hoped that you might have seen them."

"If I did," Kratos said, "you'd think I wouldn't have them in my grasps right now?"

"I...I suppose so..."

"They're probably hidden in the forest," the red headed Kratos replied as he turned his gaze over to the ledge, "if you hurry, you'll get them. Don't let them escape."

"Yes, sir!"

"Oh, by the way, sir," another soldier began to talk, "His Majesty, the prince, has been wanting to talk to you as soon as you returned from your crusade."

"I'll be sure to talk to him soon. You're dismissed."

The guards bowed down to Kratos before they left. Kratos just kept his view on the young woman and her brother. When he lost sight of them, he just flipped his cape and began to make his way towards the palace.

Meanwhile, Raine and Genis ran through the small forested area. They made their way to the stone pathway and began to look around for a place to stay. Genis suddenly had tripped and fell into the mud. Genis tried to wipe away the mud from his face, but he only made it worse. Raine took a part of her dress and began to clean Genis. Once she had finished, her attention turned to the silhouettes that were walking towards them.

Raine dragged Genis over to the nearest place she could find. It was a small stable which appeared to be empty, except for the hay that was on the ground. Raine entered the stable and beckoned Genis to come. Genis was a bit hesitant to enter the stable, but had no other choice. He got in the stable and closed the door behind him. Raine made two small beds out of hay. Once she finished, she laid down on her hay bed.

"This is the best we can do for now," Raine said as she stared at the ceiling.

"I know, I know," Genis replied, "I wish I could have thought this part out more clearly. I mean, we need to get disguises and try to get out, dressed as Heretics. That will be harder than escaping."

"Yeah, I know."

"We were very lucky that soldier guy let us go. It was a strange...he gave you some sort of a look that seemed like he wasn't there in person. What did you do to him?"

"I don't know," Raine replied as she remembered the man's dark eyes. "It was like he wasn't there with us. Still...I can't help but say that his eyes were just beautiful."

"Eww," Genis let out, "that man looked he could be a serial killer or something. Ow!"

Raine managed to hit Genis on the head. "That's no way to talk to a man that helped us," the older sister said, "even though you are somewhat right."

"So...what do we do now?"

"We're going to have to sleep it off until morning comes. The evening is the worst time for us to be running around since that's when those monsters will be at their peak potential. We'll leave in the morning when there won't be much problems."

"All right," Genis replied as he yawned, "then good night, Raine."

"Good night, Genis," Raine responded as she yawned too.

Both Sage siblings had started to get drowsy. Raine hadn't fallen asleep yet. Her eyes were glued to the ceiling while her mind was somewhere else. She wish that all of this was a nightmare and when she wakes up, she would be back inside of her small home with her parents and brother. She imagined that she would get out from her soft bed to get dressed for work. And when she would arrived to her work, she would be ready to teach the small children all there is to know about education. Her eyes began to grow heavy and soon sleep came to her.

That night...she had a strange dream which involved the soldier that helped her.

_All right, that is all for today. I hope this chapter was pretty good or at least something of interest. Next chapter will feature our ToS hero, Lloyd and we might see Zelos...might. We'll just see how the chapter goes. Anyway, thanks for reading and please leave a review if you can. Much appreciated._


	2. Chapter 2

_Hi, I'm back with another chapter. I hope the first one was a good one, and this one will only get better...I hope. Enjoy! Once again, I don't own anything Namco like. By the way, I've listened to Kikyou's theme from Inuyasha. It's a pretty good song to listen to while reading this fic. Even though it's somewhat short. Just loop it or something. XD_

**Lyric of the Moon**

**Chapter Two: Hiding**

Raine woke up from her slumber. Her soft blue eyes scanned the area she was in. She could see a white washed room with different paintings hanging on its walls. The bed beneath her body was soft. Raine let out a smile as she realized where she was. She rolled on her bed towards her right to see the tiny nightstand where a candle and a book stood. She smiled as she got out of bed.

"Raine!" Genis shouted from behind her door. "You have to hurry or you'll be late to get to the school."

Raine looked out the window to see the dawn barely rising. "Oh Genis," she said, "you know that it's still quite early."

"Either way, Mom made breakfast! Hurry up!"

"Fine!"

Raine sat up on her bed. She stretched out her arms as she let out a yawn. Slowly, the white haired beauty got off from her bed. Her feet touched the smooth wooden floor that had been painted with lacquer. She walked over to her closet and opened the two wooden doors. Inside of her closet were different sets of clothing. She picked out a long, white button shirt with black pants. She pulled out an orange overcoat.

The young Elf woman undressed herself from her silk pink nightgown. She dressed herself in her attire. Once she was done, she pulled out a pair of white boots in which she had placed on her feet. She walked over to the mirror that she had on her wall and fixed her long, white hair into a ponytail. She smiled as she walked over to the door and placed her hand on the knob.

She opened the door not to see the cute dining area with the lovely cherry wood table, but rather a fierce inferno. Screams and shouts of pain could be heard from all around Raine. Raine tried to stop the tears from coming down her cheeks as she shouted for her family. She couldn't hear a response from either of her parents. However, she could barely hear out Genis' cries of help.

The cries of help soon turned into whimpering and whining as it it came from an animal. Raine slowly opened her eyes to see that she was still inside of the shabby stable that both her and Genis had found the other night. Genis stirred a little in Raine's arms as he awakened by the soft whining. Raine looked over to the door. A strange nuzzle was peeking through the crack of the door. The nuzzle had a wet, jet black, button nose with white fur. Whatever it was, it sure was whining a lot. The strange animal scratched on the door.

"Raine," Genis said as he held onto Raine, "what is that?"

"I don't know," his sister replied, "but it will attract unwanted attention. Shoo, go away!"

Raine's tries didn't do anything but attract the animal even more as it began to scratch on the door. The animal was a rather large dog like creature. Its fur was white with green fuzz around some parts of the animal. The dog had long ears and a fluffy tail. He kept fussy around, wanting to get inside of the stable. A shadow soon covered the dog. A pair of dark color boots touched the rogue hay that was outside of the stable.

"Hey, Noishe," a young man's voice spoke, "what's the matter?"

Noishe looked over at the young brunette man and gave off another whine as he scratched the door. Inside, Raine and Genis froze. They didn't know what to do at that moment. They had nothing to fend themselves with and were afraid of who'd open the door. They heard footsteps approach the door of the stable. The door slowly cracked open. Both Sage siblings hugged each other tightly.

"Please!" Raine shouted as she didn't dare look at whoever opened the door. "Don't kill us!"

"Kill you?" the male voice replied. "Why would I do that?"

"Because...we're slaves."

Noishe whimpered a bit as he approached the shivering Genis. He gave off a small lick at the back of the boy's neck.

"It seems that Noishe likes you," the young man said. "Either way, I wouldn't say a single thing about you guys being slaves. To tell you the truth, I really hate what has been going on. If you guys wouldn't mind...can I take a good look at you?"

Raine slowly released her hold on Genis. She looked over at the young man who was hovering over them. He was a young brunette man with soft brown eyes. His attire was a dark red shirt with black pants. What got to her was the fact that he had a pair of gray wolf ears, a fluffy tail, and clawed hands. The young man looked at Raine and smiled at her rather sweetly.

"My name is Lloyd Irving," the young man said as he placed out his hand. "What is your names?"

"Raine...Raine Sage," the young woman said. "And this is Genis, my brother."

"Hi," Genis said as he waved a bit.

"Where are you guys from?" Lloyd asked.

"We come from the Elvin Republic," Raine said softly. "Our nation was almost destroyed a couple of nights ago. We are the slaves of an ambush."

"I see…that's horrible. What do you guys plan to do?"

"We planned to escape, but now…we don't know how we can travel as soon as possible. Can you tell us what is going on outside?"

"Hmm," Lloyd said, "that is hard. You see, I don't know much about what's going on. My dad might know. Come on, I'll show you to him."

Lloyd began to walk out from the stable until he noticed that Raine and Genis weren't moving. Both elves were too scared to even come out at this point.

"Listen," Lloyd spoke, "don't worry much about it. My dad is a dwarf, so he won't do anything bad to you."

"What's a dwarf doing in a place like this?" Genis asked.

"Good question…you see since my dad is an expert blacksmith, he is allowed to live in this country as long as he is able to make good armor and weapons. My dad was once a slave too, but seeing that he's good with weaponry and armor, they allowed him to be a citizen. Hey, maybe if you guys do something really cool, they'll let your slavery thing go and you can live like citizens in this place."

"Thanks, but no thanks," Raine said, "I rather not live in such a place where we'll be looked down upon."

"Oh, okay, well, just follow me to my home!"

Raine and Genis felt very uneasy about leaving the stable, however having no other choice, they slowly begin to walk out from the stable and into the broad daylight. Lucky for them that Lloyd's house was right next to the stable. The young werewolf opened the door to his house and walked inside. He beckoned the Sage siblings to enter his house. Raine was the first to set one foot inside of the house.

She closed her eyes then placed another foot inside. She slowly opened her eyes to see what type of house this was. The interior of the house wasn't a very clean one. Ash and soot had covered the once wooden floors. It was rather warm inside due to the furnace which was always with a blazing fire. In the middle of the room was a large iron anvil with a large hammer and a pair of tweezers sitting on top.

On the opposite side of the furnace was a small wooden table with four wooden chairs. On top of the table were dishes and plates which were left unwashed for quite a while. Beneath the table was an ax plus a sword. Raine could have shook her head in such disappointment on how the house was kept so dirty. Lloyd closed the door behind Genis then walked over to the foot of the stairs.

"Dad, are you upstairs?" Lloyd asked.

"Yes, what do you want?" an old Irish type voice called out.

"I brought some guests that need help. I thought you would know something."

"I'll be down in a minute."

The sounds of footsteps echoed through the tiny house. Within a couple of minutes, a small and stout figure had appeared from the stairs. His chestnut colored hair was cow licked like crazy. Underneath this bushy brows were a pair of crystal clear blue eyes that showed nothing but kindness. His beard was long and fell down to his stomach. His once soft blue shirt was now dirtied from the dirt and soot stains that came with his job. On his back was a broken giant ax. The dwarf looked over at Lloyd and his guest and smiled.

"What be the problem, boy?" The dwarf asked.

"Um, Dad," Lloyd said as he pointed at Raine and Genis, "these are Raine and Genis. They are slaves from the Elfin Republic that our nation had recently took over. They escaped and plan to leave this place. I was wondering…if we could help them. I found them inside of Noishe's stable."

"Elfin slaves you say?" Lloyd's father said as he ran his gloved hands through his beard. "I don't know about this one, Lloyd. It seems like you're in over your head on this one. You do know what will happen if we are caught with slaves. Plus you do know that General Kratos comes here at least once a week."

"I know, I know," Lloyd said as he let out a sigh, "but they need our help."

"Please Mr. Irving," Raine said softly. "We are not going to stay long. We are just passing by. Once we get enough supplies and its light again we will leave."

"First off, you don't have to call me Mr. Irving. You can just call me Dirk," Dirk replied. "Next, where do you think you're heading off to?"

"We…don't know. We just have to leave here."

"This isn't good. A woman and a child leaving a dangerous country, heading off towards the unknown, and without much to go by. You surely can't leave any time soon."

"I know…" Raine looked down at the ground as she tried to hide the upcoming tears that stung her eyes.

"You both can stay here," Dirk replied. "You two can stay here with Lloyd and me."

"We can?!" Raine looked up at Dirk with a surprised face.

"As long as you pull your own weight around here, then you can stay. You are in charge of cleaning the house while your brother is in charge of managing Noishe's stable."

"We'll do our best, Mr. Dirk! Got that, Genis?" Raine looked over at the tiny elf.

"I heard ya," Genis replied.

"Oh, and one more thing," Dirk said. "You'll need something to disguise yourselves. Miss Raine, I suggest you cut your hair so that you're not tempted to pull it back into a ponytail. Your ears will surely stick out. As for Genis, He should never cut his hair any shorter than that. There are some scissors and a small tub in our guest room. I'll send Lloyd to get some warm water for your baths."

"Alright! We'll do that."

"One more thing…you can't walk around this city or be seen in those rags that you're wearing. Don't you…have any other clothing with you?"

"Unfortunately…we don't," Raine said. "We were taken in only this clothing and nothing else."

"I see," Dirk said as he crossed his arm. "This presents a bit of a problem." Dirk scratched his head as he thought about this one. He looked up at the ceiling of his house as his hand slipped down from his head and ended up at his beard. He began to pull on it gently. Suddenly an idea popped into this head. _I wonder if it will fit her. _He thought as he looked over at Raine. "Actually, I think I might have something for both of you. I have a bit of Lloyd's old clothing when he was a child which I'm sure might fit Genis. As for you, Raine, I think I have the thing for you. Let me go and get your clothing. I'll be back in a bit."

Dirk left the living room and headed back upstairs. Raine and Genis could hear his tiny footsteps pound the wooden floor. Lloyd was a bit dumbfounded at what his father meant that he had something for Raine to wear. Raine was also confused at what Dirk had in store for her as well. However, since beggars can't be choosers, Raine decided not to question anything. In a matter of minutes, Dirk returned from the upstairs.

"Well, the clothing is set for you on the guest room bed," Dirk said to Raine. He quickly looked over at Lloyd. "Hey! Didn't I tell you to get warm water?"

"Agh!" Lloyd let out as he jumped away from his father. "It must have slipped my mind."

"Well, hop to it, boy! Our guests are filthy and they need a bath!" Dirk leaned over to Lloyd and whispered in his ear. "I believe that General Kratos might be coming here today, so we need to at least have them presentable without that man getting suspicious about anything. I'm sure if the guards took notice of these two disappearing, I'm sure that Kratos will be in charge of looking for them since right now the Vampire army is taking a rest from conquering."

"Okay, I'm going then."

Lloyd left the house to get some water. In the meantime, Dirk had took Raine and Genis upstairs. Pass the first two rooms was a door that was left ajar. Raine walked inside to see a rather plain looking room. In the middle of the room was a rather big bed with green cotton sheets on top of it. At the foot of the bed was a wooden chest. A dresser stood in front of the bed. The dresser was a strong cherry wood dresser with a large mirror.

On top of the bed were a pair of dark blue pants with a light matching top. Underneath the top was a dark long sleeve shirt. On the floor, resting in the direction of the clothing, were a pair of long brown boots. Next to the small set of clothing was a long, emerald green dress. The sleeves were long and wide. On the bosom area was golden linings that traced down to the helm of her dress. On the floor next to the dress were a pair of black shoes.

"Wow, what beautiful clothing," Raine said as she picked up the dress. "This dress is so gorgeous."

"I'm glad you like it," Dirk replied. "That dress belonged to Lloyd's mother."

"Huh? Where is Mrs. Irving?"

"I'm afraid that Anna had passed away years ago. All that's left of her is that dress."

"I'm sorry. Perhaps I shouldn't be wearing your wife's dress."

"Don't fret about it. Anna...wasn't my wife. Much like you, she was an outcast living here. Apparently her husband had left her. But then again...her husband was a demon. Anna was a human."

"So Lloyd is a half demon?" Raine asked.

"Yes...and that is why he is outs by everyone. Anyway, I wanted to make use of that dress and it really does suit you. Just wait here until Lloyd brings in the water."

"Thank you, Dirk."

Dirk excused himself and headed down the stairs. Lloyd brought over water and poured it inside of the tub. It took him a while, but Lloyd managed to fill the tub with warm water. Genis was placed in the tub by Raine. The older elf began to scrub her younger brother's white mane. Once Genis was done cleaning, he dressed himself and walked down to the living room. Once he was gone, Raine undressed herself. She walked over to the dresser to see a pair of scissor. She picked them up and walked over to the tub. She got in and began to cleanse herself. She stopped midway into her bath. Taking the scissors, Raine began to cut her long snowy white hair.

Downstairs, Lloyd started the fire inside of the furnace. Dirk began to move all the weapons and armor that he had been commissioned to work on. Genis was amazed at all the weapons. A couple of them were ones that he had never seen before in his life.

"Wow, so what is this weapon called?" Genis asked as he pointed to a strange looking weapon.

"That one is called a chakram. It belongs to some colonel in the Vampire Nation's army. It is used for close range attacks, but if thrown right it can be used as a throwing weapon."

"Cool. Say Mr. Dirk," Genis said. "I was wondering about something: how come you chose to live here?"

"To tell you the truth, I didn't have any other place to go. I had lost all my money and I was alone. I showed off my skills here and ever since then the Vampire Nation doesn't want to let me go."

Just then a knock at the door sounded off. All three guys were alarmed but quickly regained their composure. Lloyd headed off to the window and peeked through it. Lloyd cringed as he saw a figure he didn't want to see at that moment. Outside stood the very figure of a certain red haired man who was carrying a huge brown sack on his back. Lloyd moved away from the window.

"Lloyd, what's the matter?!" Dirk let out.

"Um...Dad, General Kratos is at the door." Lloyd said.

"So early? But its not even noon yet."

"Open up," Kratos bellowed from behind the door. Kratos knocked on the door once more.

"Open the door for him, Lloyd."

Lloyd placed his clawed hand on the doorknob. His hand shook a bit before he opened the door. Precisely at the moment he opened the door, Noishe scurried inside of the house. The dog like animal rushed up the stairs where he let out a whimpered. Lloyd looked away from the stairs and back to Kratos. Kratos' face remained stoic as he walked inside without having Lloyd telling him what to do.

"Um...good morning, General Kratos," Lloyd said as he bowed his head.

"At ease," Kratos replied as he waved a hand at Lloyd. "Dirk, I have a couple of things I want you to fix for me."

"What would that be?"

Kratos placed the brown sack on the wooden table. He took out ten weapons from his sack and lined them up in a nice order. Dirk looked over at the weapons and placed a hand on his beard. As Kratos and Dirk began to discuss what the fee would be for the weapon forgery, Raine had finished dressing and was walking down the stairs. She stopped midway down the stairs as she saw the figure of Kratos. Even from the back, Raine remembered what he looked like. _What is he doing here? _She thought as she leaned over to the side of the wall.

"So, do we have an agreement?" Kratos asked.

"Well, I did leave it at one-hundred and thirty four gold for one weapon meaning you have to pay up one thousand three-hundred and forty gold." Dirk said as he lifted up a giant mace.

"A bit higher than last time, but that's alright. As long as you manage to fix them in top condition."

Kratos looked over at Genis. Genis' soft blue eyes widen when he saw the pair of rubies that were from Kratos. He quickly looked away from the general, but couldn't sake off the feeling that he was still watched. Kratos glared at Genis as he tried to figure out whether or not he had seen Genis or not.

"You there," Kratos said.

"Um...me?" Genis asked as he slowly looked up at Kratos.

"Yes...you're new to these parts...aren't you?"

"..."

"Answer me." Kratos spoke in a stern matter.

"Yes..."

"Show me your ears."

"Wh-what?" Genis exclaimed as he felt his blood rush through his body.

"I'm looking for someone and I want to know if you're one of the people I'm looking for. Now...show me your ears."

"Leave him alone!" Lloyd shouted as he stepped in front of Kratos. "He's just new here and we're taking care of him because he's our new apprentice."

_Lloyd! _Dirk thought. _Don't get him into deeper trouble!_

"Apprentice?" Kratos asked.

"Yes! So you can leave him alone."

"Well...if he truly is your apprentice, then I want to see him forge."

"But...I..." Genis said as he felt very afraid at this point.

"If you're nothing more than a fraud..." Kratos said as he took out his sword from his sheath, "...I will cut you..."

"No!!" Shouted a female voice.

At that moment, Raine ran down the stairs and jumped on Kratos. Her arms were wrapped around his waist. Kratos released his hold on his sword. He looked down at the girl that was now embracing him as both he and the girl fell on the floor. Raine's head was buried in Kratos' chest. Tears began to fall down her frail face as she looked directly at Kratos.

"Leave him alone!" Raine shouted. "I'm sorry for what I did, but you really need to learn some manners about bullying children. Didn't your mother teach you that?"

Kratos was dumbfounded by both Raine's actions and words. Emerging from his red locks were a pair of grey wolf ears. Kratos managed to wag his wolf tail a bit before he sat up straight. For a moment, Kratos had remained silent. He looked away from Raine as it seemed he was lost in thought. Everyone was beginning to sense that something rather bad was going to result from this. Raine felt herself turn cold as she thought she did a bad mistake.

"Um..." Raine whimpered.

"You..." Kratos said in a monotonous tone. "No one has done that before to me. You can stay here...but don't ask me watch over you."

"What? What do you mean by that?"

Kratos slowly moved his head to look at Raine. His dark red eyes pierced her. She felt as if in that moment, Kratos was judging her soul. Raine couldn't help but notice that this demon before her was quite handsome. However, a look from his piercing red eyes sent shivers down her spine. Raine looked away from the demon. Kratos half closed his eyes before he let out a small smile. He took up his sword and began to walk out the door.

"I'll be back here next week," Kratos said without looking back at the family. "By the way...the dress looks nice on you."

Kratos walked out the door and out into the streets. The demon general made his way up the road and towards the palace. Meanwhile Raine got up from the floor and brushed herself off. Both Dirk and Lloyd were looking at her with amazement. Raine let out a puzzled look at both father and son.

"Something wrong?" Raine asked.

"No one has stood up to Kratos like that," Lloyd let out. "You're so cool! Everyone is going to be hearing about this soon and will think of you as some kind of rebellion figure."

"Rebellion figure?!" Rane shouted. "I don't want that to happen! I don't like rebellions. Anyway he shouldn't be going on like that. He was such a mean man. He really needs to be educated in manners and if I were his teacher I would show him a thing or two about manners. However, I wouldn't mind if I showed him other subjects as well. I mean there are a lot of good things such as archeology. That is one of my favorite subjects."

"There she goes again," Genis said. "Always her ranting about education."

"Heh, she must be some book worm huh?" Lloyd teased.

"Don't get me wrong, I love books but won't get so hyped about such matters like my sister does."

"A scholar you say?" Dirk questioned. "That sounds interesting. I would like you to school my boy."

"What?!" Lloyd exclaimed as he looked at his father. "Are you crazy? What am I going to need that for?"

"You're a demon, Lloyd. And as such you do have the opportunity to do greater things. I'm only a blacksmith because that is the only thing that would allow a dwarf, like me, to do."

"Aww...man."

"I'll be sure to give Lloyd a good education then!" Raine said as she patted Lloyd's head.

"Good! You'll start tomorrow in the morning then. As for now, I suggest you go find some books in our library."

"You have a library?!" Raine leaned over to Dirk as she desperately waited for directions to get to the library.

"Well...I don't own a library, but this little part of the village has a small library. However, the one in the palace is bigger. Prince Zelos owns that library."

"I wish I could go see that library."

"Unfortunately," Dirk added in, "that library is closed off to the public. Unless you are or royal descend you are not allowed to even set foot in the courtyard of the royal palace. However, I'll give you a couple of gold pieces and you can go to our library. Not a lot of people care about the education around here, so you might find some really good books there."

"Thank you, Dirk!" Raine squealed as she took up the money from Dirk.

Without hesitation, Raine ran out from the blacksmith shop and down the road. She looked frantically for the library. It was much easier locating a meat market in that section of the village. It wasn't until Raine looked at a dark building at the end of an alley that she managed to accomplish her mission. She opened the door of the unknown building and walked inside. The snowy haired woman did not know that someone had been following her.

Raine looked at the inside of the building and was amazed at the rustic looking books. She began to frantically search for any good books that might be good for teaching as well as some books that fancied her interest. Like a child in a candy store, Raine picked up mountains of books that she just had to have, at least according to herself. The shop owner of the store didn't care much for costumers, but one look at Raine made the owner wonder about this demon or vampire or whatever the hell she was. Raine placed ten books on the counter.

"I will like to purchase these books!" She let out.

"Those books will cost you forty gold. Do you have that amount?"

Raine looked at the gold pieces that Dirk had gave her and frowned. "I...only have twenty."

"Then take only five." The store owner mocked.

"Perhaps this will satisfy you," spoke a voice from behind Raine.

A strong arm brushed passed Raine's right ear. The arm had dropped twenty gold to pay off for the rest of the books.

"Ah, General Kratos!" The store owner exclaimed as he straightened himself out.

"I will assure you that this woman is a teacher and will be making a school of her own," Kratos announced. "So I suggest you give her free books."

"Of course, sir!"

Raine carried her books outside of the store. Behind her was Kratos remaining stoic as ever. Raine didn't know whether to thank the man or just to scold him for telling the store owner such a lie. As she continued to walk, she felt as she had a stalker. She stopped her walking to face the auburn haired general.

"I will like to thank you for the books," Raine said, "but you don't need to follow me anymore. In fact, I would appreciate it if you'd go away, um, sir."

Kratos just looked at Raine without a single blink. Raine felt as if Kratos was inspecting her once more. Her body began to shake as she didn't want to be there. Her grip on the books was beginning to slip. Just then, Kratos extended his arm and touched Raine's cheek. His gloved hand trailed down to the green dress that Raine was wearing.

"This is a beautiful dress," Kratos said. "You better take care of it."

Without another word, Kratos turned his back on Raine and left her in the middle of the road. Raine wasn't too sure if the auburn haired man was flirting on her or if he was complimenting her. One thing is for sure that she didn't want to bump into him any time soon. She gathered her strength and left back to her new home. Once she was inside of her new home, she placed the books on the table. She let out a rather mischievous grin as she was now in "teach mode".

Meanwhile, Kratos had walked all the way from the slum district to the royal district. His looming presence made almost ever night crawler nervous. The general had reached the front of the palace and entered inside. The interior of the palace was quite amazing. The walls appeared to be golden colored with traces of ruby light that was reflected off from the strange red marble floor. The crystal clear blue shards of the chandeliers danced on the golden ceiling. The smell of dragon's blood incense filled the air as Kratos arrived at the thrones. Sitting on the throne was a pale blond woman with ruby red eyes. Her clothing was a dark blue gown that hugged every part of her body.

"General Kratos," the woman said, "how good to see you."

"Queen Promy," Kratos replied as he knelt down.

"Tell me how the entire assault on the Elfin Republic went."

"We have brought you now elves from the middle principalities of the nation. However, we had to retreat. It seems like the elves have formed an alliance with other races in order to repel us."

"Don't give me excuses!" Queen Premy hissed. "I sent you off because you're the best I had. Don't tell me that a lot of inferior beings managed to beat my general's top squadron?"

"I can assure you that we have not sent in our best. We left them here to protect you and your children. We can't allow anything to happen now that the king is sick in bed."

"Don't worry about him so much, General. I only want what's best for my son. Soon, a new moon will arise for our nation. If my husband passes away his moon will set and a new one will rise with my son, Zelos. I need him to get himself a beautiful bride. And I want her to be a princess or a queen for that matter."

"You want me to scout neighboring kingdoms for a princess?" Kratos asked as his grey colored ears perked up.

"Yes! Go out and find me a lovely bride for my son! He deserves only the best."

"Of course, Your Highness."

"Oh, but before you leave, make sure to give my son a couple of those lessons you give him about swordfighting. I think he's been getting rusty at it."

Kratos excused himself as he left the queen to herself. The general let out a sigh as he brushed a hand through his auburn colored hair. _It seems like everyday that Queen Permy get even more tyrannical than ever, _he thought. _I don't know if its because she's worried about the king...or if she's taking advantage of this. Either way, I wouldn't know anything about any princess. Unless...she wants a fairy princess._

_Finally I'm done with this chapter. Sorry I took long. Hehe._


End file.
